This week, I'll be chatting with The Good Life, who are releasing their first album in eight years - Everybody's Coming Down - on August 14th. If you've got any questions for the band, feel free to leave them in the replies!

To return the favor, we're having a contest. All you have to do is create a Spotify playlist of your favorite music -- MPPA and beyond. Chris and I will choose our favorite 20 playlists and those people will receive an invite to a record release show at my house in Kingston, NY on July 10th. In order to participate, please share the playlist on social media using the hashtag #lookupstate.

We Take Fire have a new EP coming out, entitled Movies Where the Dog Dies. It's currently up for preorder via More Than Me records. It's math rock a la Tera Melos or even TTNG, only it's a bit catchier than both. Fans of either group should find something to love here. Luckily for them, we're streaming the whole thing. Check out the EP on the band's AP.net profile.

Our good friend Ryan Russell has a great acoustic performance series titled Nervous Energies, and weíre big fans of it here on AbsolutePunk. Today, weíre premiering part of a session Ryan did with acoustic singer/songwriter Grey Gordon, who is currently out on the Vans Warped Tour, performing at the Acoustic Basement all summer long. Performed on a nylon stringed guitar, ďGraceĒ details Gordonís frustration with someone who has inflicted pain on those around them. You can check the song out as part of his split with Chris Farren. Head to the replies to check it out.

The UK's venerable rock magazine NME announced that it will be offering its magazine as a free weekly edition starting in September. NME has seen its readership decline year after year, so this should at the very least grab some old fans back into the magazine fray.

The new free magazine launches on September 18 in the UK. As I type this, some of the NME team are locked away in a dark basement in NME Towers working on even more ideas to make sure itís not only a brilliant magazine, but that it gives you everything you asked us for. Iím confident that it will.

Every year seems like "the best year for music since (insert year here)," and 2015 is no different. As we put our Mid-Year Top 10 albums together, many writers had to make changes at the last minute - there is too much good music out there. First world problems aside, we have listened to an abundance of great albums this year, so we picked our Top 10 favourites for you all to check out. From Kendrick Lamar to The Sidekicks to Jamie xx, you can expect to find all sorts of albums in our collective or individual lists. Head over to the replies to check it all out, and make sure to join the discussion - we would love to hear about your favourite albums of 2015. Enjoy!

Recently-reunited post-hardcore favorites From Autumn to Ashes sadly had to drop off their upcoming tour, but we have a special Live Session from the band to make up for it. The hour-and-a-half set was captured at the Brighton Music Hall in Allston, MA on June 18th. Despite it being the first date of their run, the group showed no sign of rust as they played songs from their entire discography. A highlight includes the 10-minute opus "Short Stories with Tragic Endings" performed in its entirety.

The Secret Voice podcast, hosted by Jeremy Bolm of Touchť Amorť, is one of my favourite podcasts. And whilst you're at it you might as well listen to Touche's Parting The Sea Between Brightness and Me in preparation for LP #4.

Audiostrobelight will release History as Written by the Defeated as a digital exclusive on July 17th via Little Heart Records. It's a "reimagined retrospective." You can pre-order it and hear a new song called "Blisters" in the replies.

Happy Friday everyone! I had planned to spend the day catching up on podcasts and relaxing for the long Fourth of July weekend. So, first things first: I hope everyone has a great and safe weekend. Definitely take advantage of that Apple Music trial to try out some new music while watching fireworks (I wrote up a few things Iíve been listening to lately on my blog). Usually this is the part of the week where Iíd link to something funny, random, or interesting that I found over the past week. However, after seeing my Twitter at-replies this morning Iím just not in the mood for that right now. Instead, since I need more than 140 characters and Iím getting a bunch of questions about my...

Earlier this week I had the chance to take part in a conference call with Miguel to discuss his recently-released album Wildheart, which also happens to be one of the year's best. The full exchange can be found here.

Nothing that matters in this world has ever been accomplished by being faint of heart, or by being fearful, or being conformist. It always took a little bit of delusion, a little bit of crazy, a little bit of wild-heartedness to go against the grain. Because the truth is, being yourself is wild-hearted, because no one will ever be like you. You are the only you that will ever be and has ever been. And I think thatís to be celebrated, as opposed to being muted, or being...